Worlds 2009 Round 11: What a Kicking

Tim WilloughbyFriday, November 20, 2009

Coming into Round 11, Terry Soh of Malaysia found himself up against the top ranked competitor from Italy in the competition right now – Patrizio Golia. As neither player had a die, Terry laid two cards face down in front of his opponent, asking him to choose the one with the higher cost in order to determine who would be on the play.

Golia wasn’t about to let his Boa go away too soon though and a kicked Mold Shambler tried to remove the Paralyzing Grasp. Soh responded with a kicked Into the Roil to return his enchantment. He untapped and made the most of the fact that Golia had tapped out for his Mold Shambler to kick a Torch Slinger on the Boa while regeneration mana wasn’t available.

Golia tried going all-out on the attack, but Soh “still had all these” blockers: Kraken Hatchling and Goblin Ruinblaster. Only one creature was going to get through, and that wasn’t enough to finish off Soh, whose Dragon did the deed the very next turn.

Soh 1, Golia 0

Game 2

Game 2 again saw a Nissa’s Chosen start from Golia, while Soh looked to take to the air with Welkin Tern. River Boa was again next for Golia, who was careful to keep up regeneration mana.

A Harrow from Golia meant that Turntimber Basilisk could kill two creatures while losing its own life. That left Golia with the only creature on the board in his 2/2 Ally, and gradually attacked Soh down to 12. Golia tried an end of turn Baloth Cage Trap, but it was stopped by an Into the Roil (with kicker) on the token. The bounce spell deployed, Golia felt safe to cast a Savage Silhouette on his Survivalist.

Soh cast a Merfolk Seastalkers to stall the ground, but was forced to block with it when a kicked Vines of Vastwood stopped his original plan of tapping his opponent’s creature. From there, Terry went with Paralyzing Grasp to stop the Ally. This was all well and good but Golia had plenty of dangerous fatties still to deploy. Terra Stomper and Baloth Woodcrasher joined team Italy and made certain that Golia would continue to represent on the high tables in his home country.